The Phantom of Solace
by ArtemusSapphire
Summary: The fall of Beacon has left Yang and Ruby searching for answers, but while Yang is held in bed by her depression, and Ruby dreaming of hell, it seems nothing can bring them solace... until a ghostly figure from their past appears to soothe their worry. (Picks up where Volume 3 left the interaction between Yang and Ruby.) One shot! Speculative!


**Salutations! My name's Artemus, and I'm here to take you on a ride through a new idea for a RWBY fanfic. This will be my very first for RWBY in particular!**

 **For the past week I've been bingeing everything RWBY related, from the CHIBI series to the show, to reaction videos, drawings, fanfictions (like Blood Rose by RapeyLemons, among others), and my own internal love for the show. Considering the same thing happened with Life is Strange and it's wonderful storytelling, I'm not surprised this has started to happen.**

 **Anyways, for those of you not already familiar with my writing, I tend to focus on making things darker than they usually are. If you're a fan of LiS and have read my other two stories (which I have since neglected for reasons I'm not even sure of) you'll probably assume this will go the same way in terms of genre. But let me stop you right there, lol. This will not be a DarkFic, but I intend to make things a bit more realistic, both in character voice, attitude, and reaction.**

 **Besides all of that, I'm a massive fan of Ruby as a character, and this fic, whether or not it's a one-shot or may turn into my brain-child, will extrapolate on Summer's effect on both Yang and Ruby in the current timeline. That being said, this will pick up where Volume 3 ended, with the shot of Ruby saying "I love you" to Yang before we see the season transition into winter.**

 **Sit back, relax, and enjoy!**

* * *

For the first time in her life, Yang felt miserable. Combined with the fact that she had recklessly lost her right arm to a battle they didn't win, her taste of the world of Remnant stung. Her little sister, dear Ruby Rose, had witnessed death before her very eyes, Yang watching as Ruby's innocence was chipped away at by the unfolding events. But now there she stood, arms at her side, head downcast with tears welling up in her silver eyes, asking questions that Yang couldn't find the answers for. So, she did the unthinkable and turned her away.

As Ruby sadly walked away from her older sibling Yang felt multiple pangs of regret strike her heart.

"I love you" Ruby choked out, as the tiny, gentle frame of her baby sister left the doorway. The three words that gently made their way out of Ruby's mouth stung in Yang's heart. Without the strength she needed, however, it was impossible for her to return Ruby's painful response. She didn't even have enough strength to respond the way she wanted, what little power Yang had left in her locked away behind a barrier of bubbling depression.

The ensuing tears stung her eyes. Yang wiped them away when Ruby was finally out of the room, unwilling to show weakness in front of her. She could almost laugh, it was all so sad. She knew Ruby had probably felt the same way. The only difference between them was that Ruby often triumphed in the way she overcame emotional obstacles. Instead, Yang resorted to her impulse to fight, to punch her way through a situation. Ruby? Well, she took things tactfully, sometimes to a fault.

Yang laid back, resting her head on her pillow, letting the afternoon sun descend into the horizon. She laid there for hours, not wanting to think about the attack on Beacon, but being forced to by her own mind. She tossed and turned, her clock hitting midnight on the hour before anything pulled her out of her stupor.

The night was cool, devoid of any action. Besides the sound of the wind rustling the trees near their home, Yang couldn't hear much else. As if the universe heard her thoughts, Yang began to hear a quiet sob from the other side of the hallway.

Unbeknownst to the real world, Ruby's dreamscape was an absolute nightmare.

* * *

It had all been reduced to ashes, whether it made sense or not. The memories of the fall of Beacon stained her vision; pools of blood beneath innocent people, buildings collapsed from the might and horror of the Grimm. Ruby's head was in her hands, shaking in disbelief as she looked at her feet. Her team, everyone she knew and loved, lying there unmoving. They all had open eyes and blank stares. Yang's arm was missing, the blood pooled beneath her a result.

Next thing she knew, Ruby was in a forest, alone in a little red wagon that was much too small for her size. At first not knowing what she was looking for, the silver-eyed teen was instantly weary of the thunder above. Moments passed as an unstoppable search from the depths of her heart dragged her onward as she stepped out of the wagon, unknown to the dangers lurking for her.

The thunder roared. Lightning flashed.

She looked around helplessly, suddenly surrounded by familiar figures of black silhouettes. She knew these people, knew their faces, their voices, their personalities. She could even name the Grimm that stalked the shadows, the people who disgustingly morphed into the jet black man-eaters. Instinctively Ruby reached for her weapon, only to find her lower back empty.

Ruby wanted to cry. She felt weak, nothing like the real her that had all of this strength as an aspiring huntress. She had the idea to call for help, but the one person she thought of was the one she really wanted in the end.

"Mom?" She called out softly. The figures began to step towards her, to which she called for her mother again. And again. And again, until they were nearly upon her.

Ruby broke down and curled into a ball on the forest floor. She sobbed loudly, like she had when Penny was killed, or when she remembered seeing the ones she loved about to be stripped from her again. She wanted to scream like she had when Pyrrha disintegrated before her very eyes, to let out the energy that came with her silver eyes.

Ruby shook her head, pulled at her fragile hair as death crept upon her.

...And that's when it all stopped. No more thunder. No more lightning. No more figures encroaching on her. Next, Ruby found herself on the ledge in front of her mother's grave.

Ruby heard a humming rhythm, one she somehow understood, could participate in. Even the pitch was familiar enough to belong to exactly who she thought of.

"My little rose..."

Ruby turned to see the voice, recognizing it instantly. She was standing in her combat boots at this point, but fell to her knees in tears.

"...Mom..." She held a hand out, to which Summer took gently, wrapping Ruby up in her arms. The woman pet her daughter's head, running slender fingers through her short hair.

The teenager couldn't stop her heart from nearly collapsing in her chest.

"Mom!" She exclaimed happily.

"Shh, Ruby, it's okay love."

"You're here, you're actually here."

"That's right darling, I'm here, mommy's here for you. It's alright. Don't cry."

"I missed you" Ruby choked out.

"I missed you too" Summer replied, her own tears running down her face.

* * *

It was the first time since she had been bound to her bed that Yang finally stood up on her sore legs. The wood floor beneath her aching feet gently whined as she cautiously took steps to the door. Slowly she opened it, looking down the hall at Ruby's slightly cracked room. She figured the moon had been on her side of the house, an unusual glow permeating what part of the wall Yang could see, but that wasn't the case.

Until… soft movements from within beckoned Yang forward. She sighed as she did so, praying that her baby sister was still asleep, even if she was awake crying because of a dream.

Yang stopped before she poked her head in. Ruby's sobbing had quieted to a stable rhythm of her gentle breathing.

"...I missed you too." Another voice came from within. Yang pushed her head through the opening almost that instant. Stunned by what she saw, Yang gasped.

A figure, about Yang's height, wearing a white cloak, stood by Ruby's bedside, a hand gently placed on the girl's shoulder. Her silver eyes were eclipsed by strands of dark hair with red tips, the rest of her face obscured by the cloth of her hood and shroud.

It was only when the woman turned to look at Yang, revealing herself to be none other than Summer Rose, did she realize the source of Ruby's solace. They locked eyes for a moment before Summer smiled, Yang seeing Ruby behind the gesture of peace, and promptly vanished before the blonde's eyes.

Yang knelt at her sister's bedside when the stunning image of her late stepmother was completely vacant. Ruby's face swelled from the tears, her pale skin reddened by hours of sobbing. At this point she assumed she had been having bad nightmares, whatever was causing her to cry so much, causing Summer in some form or another to come and soothe her.

Knowing her sister was at peace for the rest of the night, Yang retreated to her own room, dumbstruck by what she had just witnessed. Before she fully entered she saw the same figure standing in front of her window, her back turned to Yang and the wall, looking up at the broken moon above. Yang wasn't startled. Instead she just closed the door, prompting Summer to remove her hood and fully reveal the prominent features that took such a hold in Ruby as to suggest they were twins. Yang stopped dead in her tracks, her heart and brain disagreeing on what emotions she should feel.

Summer was only a foot taller, sporting the same silver eyes, a more mature look about her that Yang could assume Ruby would nearly mirror at the same age.

"Have a seat, Yang." She said softly. Yang did so on her bed, watching as Summer took the spot next to her. Weightless, she made no effect on the mattress.

"Yang..." She began, "I'm sorry for leaving you and Ruby at such sensitive times in your lives. I should have been more careful, more tactical in all of my choices, both as a mother and a huntress...but I failed you, Ruby, and your father trying to do something not one person could do alone."

"No, you didn't." Yang said sympathetically, her throat swelling as she carefully ached them out. "You did what you thought was right, even if it meant sacrificing your life for that ideal."

"At a large cost..." She paused, "I saw what happened to Beacon, to your arm, to my Ruby when she watched it all. I... She's so troubled. I fear for her future. I fear for you. I fear for Remnant."

"Did you...pull her out of a nightmare...just then?"

Summer nodded. "It wouldn't be the first time," she admitted, "in the past, all I had to do was have a presence around her in her sleep. But...this time was different. I was cautious about approaching her in her dreams, fearing it would only depress her further. But it was so hard seeing her break down, calling for me. Even I cried when she said, 'you're actually here'." A shining tear rolled down her cheek.

"I think you did the right thing," Yang said, "she really needed that."

Summer smiled.

"I'm so proud of you both, Yang. I only wish I could still be around to see you grow up together."

Yang agreed with her. Summer reached over, hugging Yang tightly.

The woman's eyes perked up towards the doorway, Yang looking on in unison. "She's waking up. I have to go."

"Wait" Yang protested. Met with those silver eyes again, she was pacified. "Will I see you again?" Yang asked.

"In time, when things are right again. I promise."

The next moment... She was gone once again. Yang shed the tears she tried so hard to hold in, falling back on her bed, staring up at the moon. It was minutes before she had began to fall asleep, her own exhaustion from the events recently transpired that forced her into a soon-to-be slumber.

Without notice, but gently, a new weight bore down on Yang's bed, and small arms and legs wrapped themselves around her.

* * *

Yang woke to the sound of songbirds, a gentle morning breeze caressing her aching frame. Face down in her bed, Yang reached out in search for her sister, only to open her eyes and see the spot was vacant and cold. In a small panic, Yang forced herself out of bed and to Ruby's room, where it too was also empty. Finally, she stopped in the kitchen just in time to see her father pouring a cup of tea for the three of them.

"Ah, Yang," he exclaimed, "I was just going to come and wake you up. Did you sleep well?"

"I…" she began, only to look out of the kitchen window and see a small girl sitting on top of the only boulder in their front yard, facing the sunlight.

"Ruby..." Yang breathed an audible sigh of relief, to which her father replied on.

"Don't worry, she's fine. She just got up earlier than you did. I think she's still processing things, a little more quiet than usual, but…"

"Did she mention…" Yang stopped herself.

"Hasn't said a word this morning. I was hoping some tea would help loosen her nerves some, but it's been nearly two hours since she went out there."

It was going to take much more than an early morning drink to coax Ruby back in, Yang knew. She nearly rushed for the door handle, but decidedly taking it slow and calculated, Yang quietly opened the front door and stepped outside.

Ruby was oblivious to her sister's presence. Dressed in a red shirt and black sweatpants, the teenager sat comfortably atop the boulder which dwarfed her ten fold. Every thought running through her mind was of her mother. She had stopped crying, finally, but everything still hurt inside. The wind and the morning sun made the pain subside for short bursts, but inevitably it would return.

Still, Ruby felt as if the presence from last night wasn't completely missing.

"I know you're still there" she said quietly. Yang heard only a smidge of her sentence, Ruby's usually tiny voice replaced with a subtly deeper, more natural tone.

"And I know you can hear me."

Yang took a deep breath, sure that if she were to approach the girl now it would only bring her to a startled panic attack.

Until Ruby reached out with her aura again…

The teen swiveled on her bottom, looking behind her with the same swollen face. Much to Yang's surprise Ruby's pale as milk skin was even more ghost-like, similar to her mother's. A gentle red glow eclipsed the edge of her body. Her skin still looked as gentle and smooth and perfect as ever, accompanied by the residual redness left by her tears.

"She came back last night" Ruby said in her small voice.

Yang took slow steps to her sister. "I know… I saw her too."

Ruby looked like she could tear up again, but still, Ruby had exhausted her tears. Her fist came down onto the boulder instead, her aura flaring enough to crack the stone while barely bruising her small hand.

Yang stopped her advance, Ruby looking back at her as if she wasn't aware of her reaction. "I...I…" She brought up her hands, desperately looking at them for answers as another breakdown was about to occur.

Yang closed the distance between them with a long awaited hug.

"Ruby," she said softly, "it's okay. We're both here for you-"

"But she's dead," Ruby let out painful tears, "i… I want to kill all of them. Cinder, Emerald, Mercury…"

"Shhh, you don't mean that."

"Yes I do!" She nearly shouted, only to sink further into Yang's embrace. This time it was non-stop bawling, something she hadn't heard Ruby actually do in years. In a way it was eerily cacophonous, her lungs struggling to let out as much pain as she wanted, resulting in a fit of coughs the whole way through.

Yang couldn't stop herself from feeling just as bad, but she needed to be strong for Ruby.

" _I fear for her future…"_

 **You and me both,** Yang thought. What kind of effect was this going to have on her? Yang couldn't help but wonder how much different she had become in this short time, realizing that death was so much closer than just the loss of a relative. No, death was everywhere, and it nearly cost Yang her life.

"How?" Ruby banged on the boulder beneath them, "how do you keep moving on?"

Yang...wasn't entirely sure how. Maybe it was just knowing that she was strong for herself on the inside as much as she had to be on the outside, for Ruby's sake. Or it could have been her yearning for adventure, to see the other side the next day, and the day after that, and so forth.

She was entirely unsure.

"I won't lie to you Ruby, I'm not sure. But...all I know is that what I see in you is strength to persevere. Even after watching bad things happen you pressed on."

That didn't make it any better, Ruby said to herself. But Yang had a point. And her mother saw that in her, even when she was at a tipping point in her own dreams.

Ruby finally hugged her sister back as tight as she could. Yang breathed another sigh of relief for the second time this morning, proud that her words got exactly where she wanted them to be, to see her baby sister have a chance at her normal self again.

* * *

 **Alright, well, even that was a bit difficult to write. Seeing as how this is merely speculative on how the aftermath would affect Ruby and Yang, the choice to add in a standing spirit of Summer herself came with the assumption that Ruby could possibly learn to turn her emotions into more power. What I'm getting at with that is the fact that in volume 4 Ruby is much more ruthless when it comes to combat, and while I think the events of 3 have definitely changed the way she looks at the world, I believe deep down she is still the strawberry loving adorable reaper that she is in the canon story.**

 **Anyway, with that being said, I hope you enjoyed this little one-shot. I don't do them very often, so I'm eager to read your reviews and/or PMs.**

 **And as always, fly safe!**


End file.
